Untold Stories: One Marine Stood Against 1000s of Japanese at Guadalcanal
“Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, [Paige] manned his gun, and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire against the advancing hordes [of Japanese] until reinforcements finally arrived.”
One man who made the Corps proud that he claimed the title of Marine was Mitchell Paige. Today we honor all the brave US Marines who fought and died throughout our nation’s history, from 1775 up into our present day, including my great-uncle Bruce Webb, who died in Vietnam. There are countless stories of Marine heroism—from Fr. Capodanno the “Grunt Padre” to Chesty Puller to “Manila John” Basilone to Daniel Daly to the Monford Point Marines. But today I’m going to focus on Paige.
He was born in 1918 to Serbian immigrants as Mihajlo Pejic, and he was raised on American patriotism and stories of Serbian heroism, according to History Collection. From the time the young Pejic—who later anglicized his name—saw a parade of U.S. Marines, he knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. So great was his enthusiasm that he walked some 200 miles from his home in Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland, and a Marine recruiting center. He enlisted on Sept. 1, 1939.
/snip
The Japanese needed Guadalcanal to disrupt supply lines and communications, and the Americans couldn’t let that happen. …Marines were stranded without even all of their supplies and munitions as the Japanese brought in reinforcements and aimed to retake the airfield. The airmen and Marines in Guadalcanal soon found themselves in a desperate weeks-long fight that History Collection calls “sheer hell.”
The American high command was considering giving Guadalcanal up for lost. As War History Online said, “If that was what they wanted, they should not have sent in more Marines or Mitchell Paige.” The 7th Marines under legendary Chesty Puller arrived, and Paige with them. Puller once famously said, “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time.” That seems to describe Paige’s attitude too in the following conflict.
Paige noticed from his foxhole on Oct. 25 that a “massive line of assembly lights” was visible in the forest. … But by 2 am, the Japanese were only a few hundred yards away. So Paige crawled from one US machine gun to the next, warning his unit…. Following the first attack, the Japanese swept the American left flank. In the dark, Paige suddenly realized he was the only Marine from his company still manning his machine gun line.
Alone, surrounded by a vicious enemy, his gun shot from under him, Paige didn’t back down. US Marine Mitchell Paige was supposed to hold the line, and that’s what he was doing, even with no one else to help him.
History Collection explains, “Paige found himself manning a machine gun position by himself, that was surrounded by an entire Japanese regiment. … Paige was facing an estimated 2,500+ Japanese opponents.
He found and commandeered a gun from the different company. He also found some riflemen, … But with the help of the riflemen and several wounded Marines, Paige had gotten to his objective: a machine gun.
Paige’s last stand found the Marine alternating between four machine guns…“During that stretch, he singlehandedly broke a Japanese attack that threatened his battalion’s command post.” But that wasn’t all—Paige also charged down a hill to disrupt a Japanese regrouping.
War History Online:
“During this final stand, Paige swung his gun and fired at a group of Imperial soldiers who had overrun his position. Shooting into their backs, he was able to stop them before they could crest the hill and make their way to the battalion command post.
/snip
When the charge reached the bottom of the hill, there was nothing left for them to shoot. Ten hours after the initial charge, Mitchell Paige was still holding the line.”
Reinforcements arrived. In February 1943, the Japanese finally evacuated Guadalcanal, ultimately leading to multiple Allied victories in the Solomon Islands. For a few hours, the fate of the war in the Solomon Islands, perhaps the war against the Japanese, rested upon one man—one Marine. And that Marine held the line.
$100 bucks says the 1/2” and 7/16” inch wrenches are missing when it hits the ground.
The women lost the tool bag. El Gordo was right. Two NASA astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, were conducting the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Nov. 2 when a tool bag slipped, according to Space.com. Moghbeli and O’Hara finished their spacewalk after six hours and 42 minutes, NASA said. One of their main objectives… Read more »
That reminds me of the last thing my grandfather said to me before he died.
“Stop shaking the ladder, you little bastard.”
Tedtam at 11:32… grandSON??? I thought your progeny only produced girls???? Maybe I’m mis-remembering but – congrats, either way
I put that particular home up for sale online on Saturday night at midnight. I had 3 serious buyers sitting outside at 8 AM on Sunday morning.
The laundered blood money sucking Vampyre joined@thehipparties favorite song.
I came very close to becoming landlord up here until I came to my senses.
In addition to the absurdly pro-renter laws up in NJ, I figured I’d end up going to jail for assault & battery on some renter after he destroyed my property.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/quinn-rich-mans-war-poor-mans-blood
Tedtam I don’t understand people who don’t take some semblance of pride in where they live. Or have respect for property not their own. Unfortunately, that’s a large number of renters. Shame you gotta put up with that junk. I could never be a landlord. It has been my experience if people do not own something like renters they do… Read more »
I just reported our last two evictions to our landlord screening site. I don’t always report the move-outs, but these two left thousands of dollars in damage, so I think I should warn fellow landlords of them. And they both have court evictions that’ll pop up on future screens as well. I don’t understand people who don’t take some semblance… Read more »
No math is harder than toilet paper math. 😀
I just became aware of the Pro-Hamas riot in Austin.
I presume it was this past weekend.
VIDEO HERE.
MTG is holding vaxx hearings this afternoon.
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1723805447096852925
We haven’t turned the floor on yet, but I think we’re getting close.
Texpat:
I am sure about my cardiologists and primary care docs. I can’t vouch for all of them. I have so many people taking my BP these days, it’s hard to keep up.
I, for one, am very happy that you still have one, and hope you have a BP for years to come.
Brendan O’Neill is an iconoclast and a brilliant writer. Sometimes I would like to wring his neck and other times I very much admire his talent and insight. The Absolution of Hamas There is an ironically neocolonial feel to the cultural elites’ absolution of Hamas. It is their indoctrination into the politics of identity that leads them to view Israel… Read more »
I had my eyes examined last Thursday and had expected to go in today to select the frames for my new bifocals. But I’m not getting out in this miserable weather.
Billy Cat didn’t show up until after 12 noon, and I was glad to see him. Plus he was glad to see me.
13 Squawk
I am sure about my cardiologists and primary care docs. I can’t vouch for all of them. I have so many people taking my BP these days, it’s hard to keep up.
Morning, gang. I had a failing light fixture replaced yesterday, by the college-student sons of a neighbor. It was the fixture in the breakfast room, over the table where I sit at my laptop. The fixture that I got rid of was a huge, bizarre combination of a ceiling fan with 5 blades — imagine that spinning above a table… Read more »
This is the Tupolev Tu-114, considered the world’s fastest turboprop and perhaps the world’s biggest turboprop airliner. If you will notice, it has two sets of propeller on each engine. However, they do not rotate in the same direction. This is called contra-rotating propellers. FWIW; I’ve always thought that she is one of the most beautiful planes aver built, right… Read more »
I saw Little Elizabeth at church yesterday. Her family is very dear to me, so I look forward to seeing them each week. LE was charged with praying for my elbow when it went on the fritz, and then I asked her to pray for my knee a few weeks ago. She was walking by my pew before mass started,… Read more »
Greatest contestant name I have ever heard on Jeopardy.
Emily Fiasco……….. A middle school band director from St. Louis, Missouri…
Texpat I have to insist it be done properly and virtually no one but my primary care doctor stands in front of me holding my arm at heart level during the reading. He also insists on using the old fashioned manual, wall mounted device rather than one of these new digital units. But are they using the proper sized cuff… Read more »
I just found out that my grandson should be arriving on December 4th.
Y’all know how excited I must be… /joy!!/
So I guess they weren’t political refugees in fear for their lives after all:
Chicago migrants return to Venezuela ahead of winter: ‘There’s nothing for us here’
I’m sure there’s a plan being created to capture these future voters and make them stay. At least until the next electon.
Something else that is a pet peeve of mine. Millions of people with normal blood pressure may be misclassified as having blood pressure that is too high because of improper positioning when measurements are taken, new research suggests. Guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology call for a patient to be seated in a chair with… Read more »
Good rainy morning, Hamsters.
Fortunately not a heavy rain here at the moment, 7/10ths thus far and counting, 60 degrees and holding. No puddles yet so all is still soaking in thus far. Nasty day but supposedly this should end tonight. All the green stuff is slurping this up with vigor, so the cracks aren’t filled yet.
This is some amazing new biomedical advance. Cardiac pacemakers are battery-dependent, where the pacing leads are prone to introduce valve damage and infection. In addition, complete pacemaker retrieval is necessary for battery replacement. Despite the presence of a wireless bioelectronics device to pace the epicardium, surgeons still need to implant the device via thoracotomy, an invasive surgical procedure in health… Read more »
The pipes on this dude!
In other shocking news, the price of my coffee beans went down $2.
It’s Costco brand Colombian Arabica beans in 3 lb. packages that were $14.99 for years before Covid disasters.
They shot up to $18.99 and have now dropped back to $16.99.
2 Super Dave Simca (Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simca bought Ford’s French subsidiary, became increasingly controlled by Chrysler. In 1970, Simca… Read more »
More dark humor – these just really crack me up. *** My Grandfather has the heart of a lion and a lifetime ban from the Atlanta Zoo. *** After work, I volunteer to help blind children. Btw – verb, not adjective. *** The easiest way to know you are ugly is when you are handed the camera every time there… Read more »
I found some dark humor jokes: I was digging in our garden when I found a chest full of gold coins. I was about to run straight home to tell my wife about it, but then I remembered why I was digging in our garden. *** My elderly relatives liked to tease me at weddings, saying, “You’ll be next!” They… Read more »
White Privilege, Claiborne County, Tennessee, 1940s.
#5 GJT, great find.
Tim Scott is dropping out of the race.
I hope he keeps doing good work in the legislative side. We need him there.
On March 23, 2003, Paige was presented with the Eagle Scout award by the Boy Scouts of America, which he had earned in 1936, his last year in high school, but had never received because he had left home to join the Marine Corps. (He is one of nine known Eagle Scouts who have received the Medal of Honor). Paige is… Read more »
Texpat: for your perusal
https://wmcresearch.substack.com/p/friday-hope-sesamin-from-sesame-seeds?publication_id=770713&post_id=138765764&isFreemail=true&r=pn3fy
There’s a chuckle or 2 in the Nov11 edition of Week In Pictures.
Texpat slipped in while I was trying to get my links straight. 😉
What happens when you cross a 57 T Bird with a 57 Chevy? The 58 Simca Vedette Beaulieu.
FWIW; I’ve never seen nor heard of this thing, of course it was sold down-under.
Ifin’ you’re interested the Link is here.
Mornin’ Gang
I have to wonder today how many Mitchell Paiges are left in America ?